The Tennessee Equality Project and Fullilove said it was clear the ordinance, which was scheduled for the second of three readings this afternoon, lacked support from the 13-member council and Wharton’s administration, which said two weeks ago that it favors a more general ordinance approved by the Shelby County Commission earlier this year. Fullilove said she was disappointed that she had to withdraw the legislation. "We’ve been working on that for three years now and we have some closed-minded people on the council," said Fullilove. "They felt like if we could get Mayor [Art] Wharton to support it, we could get some of these other council members to support it."

Several proposed
anti-discrimination bills have languished in Memphis and Shelby County
in recent years. A countywide, non-discrimination ordinance was
introduced by the Shelby County Commission
earlier this year ... but the version eventually passed "didn't mention gays or any other protected group."

And yet another reason why we need a national Employment Non-Discrimination Act.